The texts of the first two sections of Vivaldi’s Gloria are the words of the angels in their announcement of Christ’s birth, words that are sung repeatedly in Christmas music, either in Latin or English:
Gloria in excelsis Deo
Glory to God in the highest
Et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.
And on earth peace to men of good will.
I’ve written quite exhaustively (and exhaustingly) about the meaning of this text and why the standard English translations of the Latin (as listed above) is misleading as to the intended meaning, so I’d refer you there if you’d like more information.
However, my question here is why this text is included is a non-Christmas-related work, and the answer is that it is being used here as part of a doxology, which our friend Wikipedia defines as:
A doxology (Ancient Greek: δοξολογία doxologia, from δόξα, doxa, “glory” and -λογία, -logia, “saying”) is a short hymn of praises to God in various forms of Christian worship, often added to the end of canticles, psalms, and hymns. The tradition derives from a similar practice in the Jewish synagogue, where some version of the Kaddish serves to terminate each section of the service.
So very interesting! Vivaldi has set to music what is usually called the “Greater Doxology” (yes, there is a “Lesser Doxology,” which starts “Gloria Patri” or “Glory Be to the Father”) and also the “Angelic Hymn” because of the very aspect I’m discussing of its text with the use of the angel’s announcement to the shepherds in Luke 2:14. And here’s the thing: this text dates back to before the 4th century C.E. By that time the original text in Greek was being used as part of morning prayers, and it is now used as part of the “Ordinary of the Mass,” that is, the set of hymns/prayers that are used on an ordinary (or daily) basis in the Roman Catholic service. (Not to get too much into the weeds here, but there are also the “Propers of the Mass,” hymns and readings that change daily or seasonally.) This text also appears in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer and is commonly used as part of their Communion Service.
The Gloria text includes praise for all three persons of the Trinity, with the Holy Spirit being mentioned only in the last section. Much as I’d love to get into all the various intricacies of the Latin (which is such a cool language), I’ll confine myself to just one: the word “unigenite.” which shows up in Section VII: “Domine Fili Unigenite,” which translates to “Oh Lord, the Only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ.” It always kind of tickles me to see how English echoes Latin, so that if you’re really paying attention to the Latin words you’re singing you can usually figure out the meaning. Here we have “uni,” obviously meaning “one or only,” the same as it would mean in our words “unitary.” The second part of the word, “genite,” also has clear references in English: “generating,” “genesis,” and, of course, “genitals,” all having to do with the beginning of life, or, to use the old biblical word, “begetting.” Christ is often referred to as the “only-begotten of the Father,” and there are all sorts of theological implications in that one little phrase. But I’ll leave it at that for now, and encourage you to do some research on your own if you’re interested.
Here’s an extremely popular and extremely fast performance of the full thing:
© Debi Simons
